JOHOR BAHRU, 9 Nov — The implementation of the Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) between Singapore’s Changi Airport and Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) is expected to expedite the reopening of the Johor-Singapore border.
Johor state exco of the Investment, Entrepreneur, Cooperative and Human Resource Committee Datuk Mohd Izhar Ahmad said the VTL gives the impression that the land route between Malaysia and Singapore, which has been closed since March 18 last year, will be reopened soon.
“The impact will be good with this VTL and we hope the economy will continue to recover. I cannot comment in detail about this, but it seems that the land route between Johor and Singapore will be reopened soon,” he told reporters after officiating a career carnival for youths and women in Johor today.
Yesterday Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob and his Singapore counterpart Lee Hsien Loong announced the implementation of the VTL starting Nov 29.
Commenting on the status of the ‘Business Travellers Center’ (BTC) in the state to facilitate short-term business arrivals from Singapore, Mohd Izhar said the centre is expected to be ready by the first quarter of next year.
The state exco said under Budget 2022, the BTC at Linkedua has been allocated RM10 million.
“However, we want to open another BTC in Tambak Johor so we admit RM10 million is not enough as the estimated cost is RM17 to RM18 million. So we are asking for extra allocation.
“For example, the centre in KLIA can attract 100 business travellers but when the border with Singapore is opened, there may be one thousand business travellers, so we have to make the necessary preparations to avoid problems later caused by a spillover of business travellers,” he added.
